Elon Musk assigns rocket engineers to data centre expansion, slowing development timelines to improve cooling and backup systems.
SpaceX has adjusted its artificial intelligence data centre strategy, shifting toward a more cautious development model that could lengthen construction timelines for new facilities.
According to a report from The Information, Chief Executive Elon Musk assigned a team of rocket engineers to manage data centre construction. Moving away from his historically aggressive buildout timelines, the new engineering leadership is prioritising infrastructure resilience, with increased investment in backup systems and advanced cooling technologies. Analysts suggest the slower pace of expansion could temporarily weigh on revenue growth.
Alongside terrestrial changes, Musk continues to explore the concept of space-based data centres, targeting a potential launch as early as late 2027—a timeline that remains subject to industry skepticism.
The proposal relies on placing orbital facilities into dawn-dusk, Sun-synchronous orbits. This positioning provides near-continuous access to solar energy, while the vacuum of space allows thermal energy to dissipate via radiators rather than traditional fluid cooling systems.
While orbital facilities could host latency-tolerant AI inference, sovereign data workloads, and space-generated data processing, Earth-based infrastructure remains essential for real-time applications, autonomous systems, and foundation model training due to strict low-latency and high-power-density requirements. Significant hurdles—including launch expenses, orbital maintenance, and network connectivity—continue to pose challenges to the viability of space-based computing.
